Last month’s Ryder Cup offered football fans the opportunity to watch how those in a completely different sport deal with pressure and their desire to win.
In a sport where the smallest margins count the most, the approach by the world’s best players didn’t alter depending on the way the result was swinging.
As one of sport’s great rivalries came to a head, the likes of McIlroy, Mickelson and Poulter didn’t hit strike ball harder out of frustration or in a bid to secure victory, but their approach remained calm, considered and encouraging.
It was interesting then to contrast that approach with how a manager of one of our local grassroots clubs dealt an under-9s mini-soccer fixture that same weekend.
In what is by definition a non-competitive fixture focused wholly on player development, the attitude of the coach changed throughout - tellingly as his side’s fortunes were turning.
At 0-0 with little to choose between the two sides, the coach encouraged his players, talking to them, advising them, praising them for good spells of play.
At 2-0 what the coach was saying didn’t change, but his tone had altered significantly.
And at 4-0 he was simply shouting at his players. The encouragement had gone and the instructions were loud and abrasive.
Why had the approach changed? Because they were losing? Well they went on to lose 8-0 so this change of attitude certainly didn’t aid his players’ performance.
And will the latter approach have aided his players’ development? Would they really have better learnt from someone shouting instructions at them for the majority of the game, rather than talking them through where they were going wrong and how they could improve and their shortcomings?
The fact is that his team were always going to lose that day. The gulf in class when a game ends 8-0 Is evident and especially at grassroots level, sometimes you have to expect that the game isn’t going to go your sides way.
The question then is when the game has gone and a result out of reach, how do you make the most of what is left in front of you?
Village Manchester’s Steve Joyce believes German international Thomas Hitzlsperger is right to claim that football is effectively tackling homophobia within the game.
In the wake of the annual #RainbowLaces campaign, the former Aston Villa and Germany midfielder dismissed suggestions that a lack of openly gay players in the professional game meant that football was failing in its attempts to eradicate homophobia.
Instead he described the progress made over recent years as phenomenal and suggested that the work being done continues to encourage diversity and inclusion.
Joyce – whose club Village describes itself as gay and inclusive – revealed that instances of homophobia at grassroots level are now rare.
“Today, grassroots football is not without its prejudice,” he said, “but on the whole homophobic instances are few and far between.
“Over the last 18 years the members of Village Manchester have been perhaps surprised by the minimal amount of homophobia on the pitch.
“Serious homophobic insults, racism and on-pitch threats have happened but been mostly noticeable by their absence, and, when brought to league and FA attention, acted upon.
“The difference now is that there seems to be a real move to highlight the issue nationally and within the professional sphere.
High-profile support for this year’s campaign was illustrated by both City and Arsenal who donned the laces at their Premier League outing, but Joyce was also delighted to see such support spread to grassroots.
“As expected, most of the country’s gay football teams wore the laces, but this year were joined by an increasing number of their straight fellow teams.”
“We at Village Manchester joined the campaign and were delighted that our opposition, Manchester Accountants League regulars Saints, also joined us in wearing the laces.
“I think it's probably the case that grassroots football is more accepting than professional football"